Loyalty to the End
by Sol21
Summary: The planet of Battilus come under attack from an ork horde.  The 185th elite is the only regiment close enough to lend a hand.  However, when the whole planet turns against them, they still stand to perform their duty to the Imperium.  Even to the death.


Disclaimer: I own nothing from warhammer 40k. Everything other than the few OC's in this story belongs to Games Workshop.

Trooper Killoran ducked a pile of rubble to avoid a las volley. He saw dozens of the scattered shot go past him and into the building behind, causing small pieces of concrete and stone to pelt his flak armor. When the shards stopped falling, one of the other troopers got to his knees to take a shot, and was promptly kill from a hit to the neck. As his corpse fell back to the ground another volley was fired at the prone guardsmen. Killoran felt some las rounds land close to his feet as the shooters aimed higher. He turned when he heard the squad's senior officer, Sergeant Axel, calling in for support.

"I need a chimera to the outer foundry right now! My squad's pinned down from snipers north of us!" There was static on the vox for a brief second before he got a response.

"Chimera on the way Axel, but you have to get out of there quick. The crazed are hitting the line all over and the orks are launching another attack from the city outskirts." Axel swore under his breath when he heard this, considering the fact that several squads were out on patrol. With only five-thousand men in the regiment, they were spread thin as it was. A cry of agony from across the ruined street told him that that number was lowered by one more.

The survivors of Axel's squad started slowly taking opportunity shots at the snipers, trying to lower the amount of fire coming at them. Some of them were lucky enough to take out a few, but when those ones died another two took their place for each. Seeing as they were all civilians or corrupted PDF soldiery, there was an endless amount of them. Axel cursed the dark powers of chaos under his breath as he thought about it.

The planet of Battilus had come under attack without warning from an ork horde. The local PDF were barely able to hold off the initial landing of the aliens. They managed to get a signal out for help from any regiments that could hear the call. The only regiment close enough to answer the call was the 185th Elite. Their commanding officer, Colonel Varrik, deployed the regiment at full strength to defend the hive world. After that, things went from bad to worse.

Things started out as good as they could have in that situation. The 185th worked cooperatively with the PDF regiments to hold off the orks for about a month. They had succeeded in pushing them out of the city, and beyond the wall every time they had broken through. That all changed when the dark gods decided to intervene however. Civilians started forming into blood cults of Khorne and rampaging through the streets. Squads of the PDF would either be killed by ambushes or go to join the "crazed" as they had come to be called. Over the course of a single week, the entire planet's population and defense force had turned into one giant cult. All of them excluding the 185th.

Under the watchful gaze of Commissar Uriel and Colonel Varrik the guardsmen resisted the temptation of chaos. Where hundreds of others fell, the black clad Elite stood firm. Eventually however, they pulled back to the very inner cloister of the city. They now only controlled the major foundries and government buildings. Luckily for them, the crazed population still hated the orks more than the Guard, so when the aliens tried to take the city they were met by fully manned defenses of fearless, determined cultists. The entire outer city had been turned into one large ambush, one that Axel had fallen right into.

There was another cry from one of his squad, as he was struck in the leg from a lucky autogun shot. Axel was just wondering where their evac was, when his vox set rang in his ear.

"This is the _Guardian Angel_. We are ready for evacuation detail. Where do you want us Axel?" Axel looked behind him, and he could see the Chimera barely visible behind a building. It was too long of a run to make it; they would all be dead before they got half way.

"Its too far of a run _Angel_. I need you to bring some fire down on that building directly in front of us. Keep those snipers pinned long enough for us to get back by you." There was a quiet acknowledgment from the driver of the APC, and they moved out from behind their cover. Axel saw a spotter poke his head out of the hatch on the top, and direct the gun towards the building where the fire was coming from. A second later, the multi-laser opened up on the enemy, hosing down the entire area.

Half a dozen of the now tainted population died instantly, falling from the windows after being suddenly struck. Another few died as the Chimera's weapons adjusted its aim to sweep across that entire floor. The rest of the snipers took cover to avoid being struck out in the open. Axel took this opportunity to get out of there. He ordered a fall back, with half of the squad always covering the other. With the multi-laser and all the other lasguns keeping the enemy down, they were able to make most of the distance without any problem. Then out of the corner of his eye, Axel saw a large flash and knew what it was immediately.

"Rocket incoming! Everyone find cover!" All of his squad dropped to the ground as two missiles flew over their heads. The chimera managed to pull back behind the building just in time for the heavy weapons to miss their target. The two rockets exploded harmlessly farther on, showering the area with chunks of rubble. Axel's squad scrambled to take cover again, but despite their quick moving another two were claimed by the enemy's fire. The vox rang again from the chimera's driver.

"Sergeant if you want evac, you are going to have to take out those heavy weapons. One good hit from them at this angle and we will be immobilized." There was a groan as everyone in the squad heard this. They were quickly silenced by a stern order from their officer, and they returned to firing. Axel moved his plan to get rid of the rockets into motion.

"Red and Killoran, follow me! The rest of you, keep up that covering fire. Make sure they keep their attention on you!" All of the troopers yelled in acknowledgement, and kept up the fire support. Axel waited for Trooper Killoran and Corporal "Red", the squad's flamer, to form up on him next to the building. He gave them the plan off of the vox in case the enemy had breached their channel.

"We are going to go around them through these buildings and take out those heavy weapons. Killoran I want you to have your shotgun ready, and Red be ready to burn us a way out, but otherwise stick to your laspistol. Let's move!" Axel turned around and kicked in the door next to them while the other two soldiers pulled out their respective weapons. Without further delay the trio of guardsmen moved into the building.

It took them about ten minutes to reach a building close enough to their target. They had gotten this far without any resistance from the enemy, all their attention focused on the pinned troopers. When Axel looked out the window at the enemy position though he saw more men taking up positions to shoot, so he ordered the other two men to pick up the pace. Finally, they reached a spot above the enemy rockets. The three men quickly went to work to free up the chimera.

"Red, cover the hallway, make sure no one comes up behind us. Killoran, get a frag grenade ready. Toss it into the right window when I throw mine at the other one." Axel waited until Red had moved into the hall to cover them before pulling out his grenade. He waited for a brief pause in the enemy fire pattern and then threw his grenade into the window where the first rocket team was. Killoran threw his at the same moment, and both men ducked behind the wall to avoid being seen. Both of the grenades exploded with a muffled sound from inside the room, only to be followed by cries of agony. Axel smirked at the small victory and called up the chimera.

"_Guardian Angel_, you are clear to proceed. We will be with you shortly." The two men started to move out into the hallway, when Killoran saw something out of the window. When he looked back, he saw another heavy weapons team preparing to fire at the now exposed Chimera. He yelled out a warning to Axel, who then tried to raise the APC on the vox channel, but failed to do so. The three men watched as the team took aim for what was sure to be a kill shot.

Just as the team was about to fire though, the one manning the gun just slumped to the ground, forcing the weapon to aim up. The missile exploded harmlessly in the air, showering the area with fragments. The other man of the weapon team looked around to find their attacker, only to suddenly cry out in pain and fall to the ground as well.

Before the trio's very eyes another three enemies dropped to the ground before they could move. All of the snipers proceeded to take cover, as they tried to locate this unseen enemy. Since there were no more rocket teams to worry about, the Chimera crew directed their multi-laser to once again fire at the building. A few enemies died from laser shot going through the wall. During a break in the firing, Axel heard someone on his vox channel.

"Sir you had better get out of there. There's a shitload of corrupt PDF coming towards your position. The building is covered, so I'm going to try and take out as many as I can before they get into the building, but you should move now!" Axel couldn't tell who the soldier was by his voice, but that didn't matter at the moment. All that mattered was getting out of the building before they got cornered in it.

Red took point as they quickly made their way down the stairs to the ground level of the building. The three of them could hear the chimera keeping up the suppression fire on the building where the snipers were, but they could also hear a large number of voices comeing from the other side. The corrupt PDF were getting closer, putting them at risk each moment they weren't out of the building. By the time the got to the ground floor, they finally engaged the enemy.

As the trio of men descended down the stairs, a forward squad of corrupt soldiers entered the building. There was a slight hesitation as the two groups saw eachother, and then the PDF opened up. The three men hit the floor, ducking behind tables and rubble for cover, as a wave of las-fire cut through the air. The stairs and walls where they used to be was punched full of small holes from the volley. Axel got to his knees behind a flipped table and fired back taking down one man. Before the other men had time to move, Killoran fired a shotgun round blindly from behind his cover, and took down an additional two. The survivors ducked behind cover, and started taking quick shots at the two men.

Axel glanced to his left, and saw that Red had yet to get up from the floor, and the man wasn't moving. He cursed, and then fired a burst from his lasgun before ducking down again. Killoran fire another two slugs from his shotgun before he too was forced to take cover or be shot. Axel could hear more PDF coming from the outside as he in cover.

"We have to get out of here, now!" he shouted to himself more than Killoran. The enemy who was shooting stopped, and Axel got up to take another shot. As he got up, he was met by a wave of heat, as fire engulfed the opposite side of the room. He looked to see Red up, and sweeping the entire ex PDF squad with his flamer. The men screamed as their flesh burned, and they ran in every direction to try and put it out.

The sergeant simply nodded at Red in thanks, and then the trio of men ran outside. They turned the corner, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a man in a camo cloak facing the other direction. Axel was about to stop, when the voice from before rang on his vox line.

"Don't stop sergeant. I've got you covered, just get to the chimera." The voice was coming from the soldier with the camo cloak. In too much of a hurry to argue, Axel and his two men ran even fast to the APC. The heard the angry mob of enemies turn the corner, and then the quiet report of a long-las firing into their midest. Axel couldn't help but be thankful for the heroic sniper.

By the time they reached the chimera, all of the survivors of his squad were inside of it. The two troopers at the ramp were watching for any more enemies, when they noticed their own men running up. They yelled at the driver to go as soon as the trio got to the ramp, and inside the transport. Axel moved to the front to talk to the driver.

"Turn left and head back to where we came. There's a sniper back there, and I'm not leaving him behind." The man hesitated a bit, but obeyed his superior's order. They moved back towards the man's location, and were met by a mob of cultists. The multi-laser opened up, tearing the unarmored crowd apart. Axel opened up the ramp and voxed for the sniper.

"If you are still alive, you have ten seconds to get in the ramp now!" He counted up to five, and then heard the noise of a body landing on top of the chimera. The unnkown soldier, flipped into the chimera from the top, landing in a heap ontop of the other soldiers. Axel punched the shutting button for the ramp door and yelled at the driver to get them out of there. The man gunned the engine and the vehicle bolted back towards friendly territory. Axel decided to identify the man he had just saved. The other man rattled off his info like it was rehearsed.

"Sniper Corporal Valar, thirteenth squad sir!" Axel had to think about it for a moment. The thirteenth squad hadn't been seen or heard from for at least a day.

"That's Sergeant Jeremiah's squad. Where's the rest of you Corporal?" He watched in a little sorrow as the man held up identification chips that the 185th used for their men. The entire squad had clearly perished, with the exception of Valar.

"We got ambushed yesterday by the cultists. A few of us survived, but everyone else was too wounded to move. The sergeant himself took out at least thirty of them sir. A grenade finished them off when I was moving to a nearby building to cover them. I've been trying to get back ever since." Axel nodded slightly.

"I'm sorry to hear about your squad. We'll see what to do with you when we get back, but for right now take a rest. You've earned it." Valar said a quiet word of thanks, and took a seat by the front wall of the chimera. He got as comfortable as he could for the long ride back to camp.

They had been traveling about an hour when they came upon another Chimera. The vehicle sat stopped in the middle of an old intersection. The pilot of the _Guardian Angel _stopped when one of the soldiers waved him down. Axel jumped out of the transport to speak with the man that was clearly in charge.

"I'm Axel. Tenth squad, second company. What can we do to help sergeant?" The other man took a drag of the cigarette he had before answering.

"Brock. Fourth squad, fourth company. We were defending the eastern perimeter when we were ordered to haul ass out of there. I lost about half my men before we got out of the hot zone. Now our Chimera is having engine trouble and my mechanic is dead. Got any room on yours?" Like most men in the regiment, Axel didn't trust his fellow soldiers. He watched the man for any suspicious movements the entire time.

"I can take one or two, but we are full beyond that. Some of my wounded can't walk so they have to lay on the benches. I can spare you my mechanic however. He doesn't have much experience, but he should be able to get the job done. Killoran!" Axel turned as the trooper ran out from the transport.

"I want you to stay here, and help them fix their damn Chimera. Do that as quick as you can and then get back to the main defences as fast as you can." The young trooper nodded and went straight to work. The _Guardian Angel_ took on four more men before it closed its ramp and moved out again.

After just about another hour, they finally pulled through the "gate" of the 185th's defence line. The squad was quickly dropped off by their barracks before the Chimera sped away to the motor pool. Axel had his men settle in before he went to repor to his CO.

Lieutenant Jericho was a fearsome looking man. He stood at a terrifying height of 6' 6' and was nothing but muscle. A long jagged scar ran from one side of his face to the other in a diagonal cut.

When the 185th had picked him up, he had just broken out of prison on his planet. He was said to have been on of the most dangerous criminals there, being responsible for just about every crime in the book. He had climbed tooth and nail to get to his rank, and anyone under his command quickly learned to fear him. Axel couldn't help but shudder when he approached the man.

"Sir! Squad ten with a report. It appears.." He got no further because the Lt. held up his hand to cause him to stop talking.

"I'm sure we all know what is going on Sergeant. I want your squad redeployed along the line now. We need every man available to hold off this one." Axel didn't even bother argueing against the order. He nodded and moved off to place his men.

The black clad lines came to life as they heard the roar of a Chimera engine. Axel jumped up on the trench deck to see the Chimera he had left Killoran in coming towards them at full speed. The vox channel coming from them was mixed with many different voices. All of the men seemed terrified. Just as they made it out of the ruins of the outer cloister, disaster struck. A frag rocket struck the APC right in the treads, causing it to flip several times before landing upside down.

All of the defenders stared at the burning wreckage, but then one of the snipers noticed movement from it. Some of the men had survived the crash! The men started to break from the positions to assist their comrads, but halted at the sound of a whip cracking voice.

"Stay where you are!" All of the men froze as Colonel Varrick moved up to the front line. This man had guided them through fire and brimestone, so no man dared go against his order. They all waited as the was filled in on the situation.

"Colonel sir, there are survivers. The crazed militia are about to attack in the thousands." The silence that hung afterwards seemed to last forever as the head of the regiment thought. He nodded twice to himself and then answered.

"Which is why we can't help them. Listen, all of you! Those men are my brothers in arms as much as they are yours. But do you think they would want this entire mission to fail because of them? They wouldn't want you to charge out to save them, because they know what is important. So we stay here. Their sacrifice will be honored in by all of us that survive tonight." He turned to face the wrecked Chimera.

"Do you hear us my brothers? You will be remembered!" He yelled. At his last words the entire regiment let out a roar of approval, and then silence fell as they waited for the inevitable attack that would seal their comrades fate.

Killoran rolled a dead soldier off of him and stood up. There was smoke coming from the top of the Chimera and several men were dead, including the sergeant. Most of the survivors had moved out of the wreckage to breath. One of the pilots walked up to Killoran panting.

"You ok?" The question was somewhat pointless, but you couldn't blame a man for asking. The other trooper nodded.

"Fine. Or at least better than the dead." The pilot was about to respond, but then turned pale.

"I'm not so sure." He said the last words as he pointed behind Killoran. The trooper turned and looked to see what had scared the man. He was confronted by the sight of thousand of millitia stareing at them. All of them were armed with some sort of weapon, most being home-made melee weapons.

The surviving men of the Chimera hesitated for a moment, but then started to set up a defence. Most of them moved into, or around the enterance of the flipped transport. They issued out the weapons they had and waited. Killoran pick up his shotgun and bayonet and turned to the pilot.

"What do you have left?" The man held up a las-pistol.

"This and one spare clip, if we even get to use it." Killoran couldn't help but agree with him. There was about eight men left counting them. Between them they had three lasguns, two shotguas, three pistols and several knives. Most of the guns had about of fourth of a clip left with no spares. All the men knew they were finished. So Killoran broke the silence with a few simple words.

"Let's give 'em hell boys." There wasn't time to respond as the corrupt populance screamed their bloody warcry and charged.

The three lasguns opened up at the mass, taking precise shot with their weapons on semi-auto. Men and women dropped quicklky from the lasfire, but it was nothing to their number. As they closed in by sheer mass alone the laspistols opened up in support trying to stem the tide. It succeeded for all of about a minute.

Killoran heard a cry and saw one of the lasgun weilding men impaled by a sharpened metal bar in the chest. The man collapsed in a heap, removing his fire from the crowd. Gaining momentum, another crowd member fired with his auto pistol and took out of the guardsmen using his own side arm. Finally the lasgun clips exhausted, and stopped firing into the crowd. There was a brief silence, and the crowd charged again, right into the defenders.

Killoran and the other shotgunner blasted any cultist that got too close. One accidental shot caught a retreating guardsman in the leg causing him to collapse and get trampled by the tide. The other man with a lasgun smashed the bunt of the weapon into a crazed man's face, before ending up with a knife in the tip of his neck. Both the other shotgunner and one of the men using a pistol were claimed by stray auto gun fire, leaving only Killoran and the pilot left.

Killoran fired away quickly, covering the man next to him as the reloaded. When he had done so, the pilot switched his pistol's setting to full auto and let the crowd have it. He killed about a dozen of the people, before catching a handmade throwing spike int he leg, causing him to drop.

Killoran fire two rounds to save the man from death, but ran out as he tired to fire a third. He swung his empty weapon the enemy, breaking one man's neck , while his bayonet cut another across the throat. The inside of the Chimera was filled with bodies now, both dead and alive. Killoran himself soon fell as a rock hit him in the back.

He stumbled around on the ground in pain, but then suddenly found himself seized by many hands. He was forced down onto the metal floor and held there. Next to him the pilot was in a similar position. There was murmering amongst the crowd for a bit and then suddenly silence. One man passed up a large rusty carving knife and another whispered the dreaded words.

"Skullz for the skull throne." Killoran's eyes widened as he realized what they meant to do. He fought for his life, but it was all for nothing. Within seconds all that could be heard was his screams as the crowd cut out his skull, with him still alive.

** Hey guys, I'm back. I decided that my other story wasn't going anywhere so I have stopped working on it. This was an idea for a one-shot story about a Guard army I made, but it will end up being about four chapters at least. **

** Read and review, I would like some opinions. Hope you enjoy and stick around to read more. **

**Greetz**


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